What struck my eyes first at The Cascade Mountain Men’s annual Muzzle Loading Arms Show at the Enumclaw Expo Center in March was that intricately beaded dress she wore. I have never seen such workmanship in such abundance and with such fine taste. I simply had to make sure: Did she make this dress herself? Indeed! And what did the red bar across her eyes mean? It’s a symbol for courage – and I understand that too well as a fellow creator exposing her art to the public.
Kristen, who rather goes by her artist name Blue Horse than her full name, was about five years old when she first watched the Disney movie Run, Appaloosa, Run. “It was a bout the Nez Perce, and the title track went ‘the proudest horse a man could ever ride’,” she remembers and says that she has always had a love for horses, like her mother did. And for bison. Which is why they traveled to Yellowstone around the same time. “On the way, we went to the Big Hole battlefield in Wisdom, MT, where Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce escaped the US Army on their 1877 flight to Canada. I was exposed to their beautiful beadwork and their culture.” Kristen was smitten. No book about the Nez Perce went unread, and so many other books about American tribal history have been devoured ever since. So many more places have been explored. The things learned along the way became an integral part of her artistic expression.
When I met Blue Horse, the former business administrator had just started a new career path with her business, Open Gate Productions. “I have always loved doing something with my hands,” she told me. “My business motto is Create Like the Gate Was Left Open.” Versatility in crafting techniques and painstaking detail work add to historical and cultural knowledge. The result are exquisite canvas horse ornaments for the Christmas tree, unique teddy bears made from red coyote fur or beaver pelts, as well as turtle shell bags and rattles filled with dried juniper berries. And, of course, there is her mind-blowing bead work.
“I have been studying indigenous beadwork for over 20 years and learned how to create it myself,” the artist says. “Each culture has their own patterns and colors. And I have learned to discern which time period originals are from. I am a very humble admirer of indigenous art.”
Some of her beadwork reflects traditional Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Lakota patterns but also appeals to modern needs. For example, Kristen found that the size of traditional pouches is barely smaller than what would be the perfect fit for an iPhone – so apart from replicas of the original ones, she has created iPhone pouches including belt loops.
Some of Blue Horse’s pieces combine bead appliqué, bead weaving, and hollow beadwork, such as necklaces she offers for sale. Seed beads, almost too tiny for the bare eye to see, finish off hems. Tiny, precise stitches create razor-sharp dividing lines between leather and fur, with not a single hair embedded where it doesn’t belong. The natural growth direction of fur is used for natural lines in her stuffed animals.
Where does Kristen aka Blue Horse stand in relation to the indigenous world? “It’s difficult,” she admits. “I don’t belong to any native tribe. I’m trying to learn from their art as much as I can. I love and highly respect indigenous culture, and I don’t want to create big waves.” But, of course, she does because who wouldn’t stare at the craftmanship she proves with every single piece of art she creates?! And everybody loves to get to know tidbits such as that her favorite color, blue, was “the only color American Indians could not reproduce from the natural environment. Blue beads, therefore, were highly prized and had a higher trade value.”
What Blue Horse didn’t bring to the show in Enumclaw was another field in which she clearly excels: she is an awarded painter and drawer. Currently, the Western Washington artist is looking for galleries who might be interested in her work. She showed me some on her cell phone, and I was stunned. Whether it’s horses or landscapes – the realism of her oil paintings or pencil drawings makes one crave to look more closely at the single strokes of brush or lead. Then to stand back again and take in the work as a whole. And to get to see even more pieces.
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